Rating: 
Summary: VERY POWERFUL FILM IN A MASTERFUL LOOKING DVD
Review: "The Ox-Bow Incident" concerns itself with a murder and a lynching - hardly standard Hollywood film fare and probably the primary reason why the film, on its initial release, did not do well at the box office. However, "The Ox-Bow Incident" is probably one of the finest films you are likely to ever see. Director, William Wellman, fills the screen with sweeping social commentary and imbues his lead character, played by Henry Fonda, with the righteous every-man perspective that would become Fonda's hallmark and a main staple in American cinema in the decade's that followed.
TRANSFER: FANTASTIC! After the rather shoddy work done on their studio line's Mark of Zorro and The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, I wasn't holding out much hope for their subsequent B&W releases. But "The Ox-Bow Incident" has been remastered with the utmost care and attention to detail. The gray scale is impeccibly rendered. Blacks are black. Some fading is evident but nothing that will distract. Film grain and age related artifacts are kept to a bare minimum. There is no trace of edge enhancement, pixelization or shimmering of fine details for a film like presentation that is visually smooth. The audio - remixed to stereo, is nicely cleaned up and well balanced with minimal background hiss.
EXTRAS: An audio commentary that is rather ho-hum and a "Biography" special on Henry Fonda that suffers from too much to say, but not enough time to say it in.
BOTTOM LINE: Very nice transfer. Well worth the average film collector's time and money.
Rating: 
Summary: More Than A Western
Review: "The Ox-Bow Incident," while a western by genre, is a profound analysis of the social phenomena of lynch mobs. This transcends the classic lynchings through hanging, but the manner by which groups of people presume guilt as condemn the suspect without a fair hearing.Henry Fonda's character is one man who believes in capital punishment, but also believes in the right to a fair trial. However, he faces down a large posse of bloodlusting men who are not interested in examining the difficult truth, but instead who prefer the convenient satiation of their rage. How does one voice among many speak, especially if they don't want to hear? There is a depth to it, similar to "Twelve Angry Men," also starring Fonda. Anthony Quinn is one of two men facing a tree-hung noose. MASH's Henry Morgan is very young and dapper here (without his horse, Sophie), and stars as Fonda's friend. A subplot regards a military leader who essentially leads the posse to the men, and his relationship with his son whom he forces to come along. The son, a prim and delicate sophisticate is opposed to his machismo-laden father in both personality and mission. Their conflict between right and wrong, son against father, man against child is more than a subplot, but a natural part of any such confrontation. A short film of 75 minutes apparently not yet on DVD, it is acclaimed as a classic. However, it is far from showing the powerful vistas of "Red River" or the gruff but witty one-liners of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." It moves quickly, and its tight editing avoids cliches and limits the viewer from feeling as if he can expect the next line. I fully recommend "The Ox-Bow Incident." It is the sort of movie worth watching in a high school civics course, or in a movie discussion group. Anthony Trendl
Rating:
Summary: A BEAUTIFULLY ACTED & REALISTIC WESTERN
Review: A cowboy is unable to prevent three wandering travellers from being unjustly lynched for murder. One of the great Westerns to date, THE OX-BOW INCIDENT - based on an actual event occuring in 1885 Nevada - is a powerful and ugly portrait of mob violence that equals majestic Greek tragedy. This is a Wellman masterpiece, shown through a glass darkly or not, one where he uncannily penetrates the psyche of his characters with brilliant exposure. The whole film is coated with shadow (for doubt and fear) and it has a gritty, worn-out feel to its atmosphere right down to the threadbare costumes on the actors, in keeping with the somber tale. Much of this is due to Arthur Miller's outstanding cinematography which is ably supported by a suitably downbeat musical score by Cyril J. Mockridge. Fonda, Andrews and Quinn are superb in their roles, and the movie was directed awesomely by William Wellman: he drew suitably subtle performances from some & properly bombastic renderings from others - i.e. Quinn as Juan Martines, etc. The film was purposely given a sort of "claustrophobic look" - via its being set-bound with painted backdrops - in order to create a mood of pervasive doom and maniacal intent of the two dozen "average citizens" to commit a capital crime. Fonda was justly proud of his bravura work in this rather controversial and somewhat depressing Western. As a curious trivial footnote, the film was originally to have showcased Mae West - of all people - as a sort of wisecracking saloon hostess around whom the story would have revolved (!)
Rating:
Summary: a very good western that flopped at the box office in 1943
Review: A powerful, hard-hitting anti-lynching parable that audiences found easy to resist in 1943. A boxoffice failure, it has withstood the test of time.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful, but Flawed
Review: At times the sets look like the results of a high-school art class, while the preachy last scene is about as necessary as sugar on steak, yet this film remains arguably Hollywood's most powerful anti-lynching statement. It's a real oddity, an expressionist challenge amidst the confines of the traditional Western. But then time and place are clearly secondary to the movie's main point, its topical message. In 1943 Jim Crow was too strong to attack directly, at the same time the South remained a bastion of box-office movie-goers. So the screen adaptation keeps to the safer setting of 1880's Nevada, even as the the Confederate major and the Negro preacher embody the allegorical social message. What makes the film work, however, are uniformly fine performances from a nucleus of unheralded players: Frank Conroy as the imperious major, William Eythe as the weakling son, Paul Hurst, Leigh Whipper, and in perhaps the best performance of a so-so career, young Dana Andrews as the most sympathetic victim. It's his touching mixture of desperation with stricken disbelief that grips the audience and reveals the depth of the tragedy. There's an emotional honesty here that endures. Stand out too, are the posse scenes leading up to the lynchings. Their raucous byplay and casual cruelty underscore a mentality more concerned with a boy's night out than with the demands of real justice. Then too, who can forget the piercing guffaw of Jane Darwell's bawdy old harridan that mocks the proceedings and demeans the suffering. The cross currents here between lust for blood and plain old lust for power have seldom been more subtly or searchingly drawn. All in all, it's an ugly depiction, one not easily papered over by a remorseful wrap-up. Henry Fonda's role goes little beyond an interested onlooker, and it's to his credit that an established star would accept such a secondary part. If only the studio had trusted audience reaction, ditched the letter gimmick, and allowed the events to speak for themselves, this could have been a classic, instead of the erratically wrought commentary it finally is.
Rating:
Summary: A Fabulous Study of Mob Mentality
Review: Before "12 Angry Men" there was "The Ox-Bow Incident," a bleaker and never less than fascinating exploration of the nature of mob violence. Unlike "12 Angry Men," this film has no clear-cut heroes. It takes place in a more primitive, wilder time and location, and the principal question at the crux of this movie's conflict is whether or not three suspected cattle thiefs should be punished without due legal process. A small group is in favor of letting the frontier town sheriff handle the situation, while a much larger group smells only blood (and in some cases are motivated by personal vengeance) and convince themselves of the suspects' guilt without listening to any of the evidence. It's quite a frightening movie in its own way, and it has a stark look at odds with the average studio film being churned out at the time (1943). Henry Fonda is quite good, as usual, in the closest thing the movie has to a main character, but it seems pointless to single him out in what is obviously such an ensemble effort, and in a movie that only lasts a mere 75 minutes or so and has such a large cast, each actor manages to color his/her character with delightful details, sometimes with no more than a single line of dialogue or one reaction shot. "The Ox-Bow Incident" is a fantastic film. I don't think it's well-remembered now, but I'm thrilled to see it on DVD and hope that it will be rediscovered. Grade: A
Rating:
Summary: A Fabulous Study of Mob Mentality
Review: Before "12 Angry Men" there was "The Ox-Bow Incident," a bleaker and never less than fascinating exploration of the nature of mob violence. Unlike "12 Angry Men," this film has no clear-cut heroes. It takes place in a more primitive, wilder time and location, and the principal question at the crux of this movie's conflict is whether or not three suspected cattle thiefs should be punished without due legal process. A small group is in favor of letting the frontier town sheriff handle the situation, while a much larger group smells only blood (and in some cases are motivated by personal vengeance) and convince themselves of the suspects' guilt without listening to any of the evidence. It's quite a frightening movie in its own way, and it has a stark look at odds with the average studio film being churned out at the time (1943). Henry Fonda is quite good, as usual, in the closest thing the movie has to a main character, but it seems pointless to single him out in what is obviously such an ensemble effort, and in a movie that only lasts a mere 75 minutes or so and has such a large cast, each actor manages to color his/her character with delightful details, sometimes with no more than a single line of dialogue or one reaction shot. "The Ox-Bow Incident" is a fantastic film. I don't think it's well-remembered now, but I'm thrilled to see it on DVD and hope that it will be rediscovered. Grade: A
Rating:
Summary: A Fabulous Study of Mob Mentality
Review: Before "12 Angry Men" there was "The Ox-Bow Incident," a bleaker and never less than fascinating exploration of the nature of mob violence. Unlike "12 Angry Men," this film has no clear-cut heroes. It takes place in a more primitive, wilder time and location, and the principal question at the crux of this movie's conflict is whether or not three suspected cattle thiefs should be punished without due legal process. A small group is in favor of letting the frontier town sheriff handle the situation, while a much larger group smells only blood (and in some cases are motivated by personal vengeance) and convince themselves of the suspects' guilt without listening to any of the evidence. It's quite a frightening movie in its own way, and it has a stark look at odds with the average studio film being churned out at the time (1943). Henry Fonda is quite good, as usual, in the closest thing the movie has to a main character, but it seems pointless to single him out in what is obviously such an ensemble effort, and in a movie that only lasts a mere 75 minutes or so and has such a large cast, each actor manages to color his/her character with delightful details, sometimes with no more than a single line of dialogue or one reaction shot. "The Ox-Bow Incident" is a fantastic film. I don't think it's well-remembered now, but I'm thrilled to see it on DVD and hope that it will be rediscovered. Grade: A
Rating:
Summary: A Memorable Western With A Moral, Powerful!
Review: Considered by western purists not to be a 'real' western. Mainly because of its passive hero, lack of action and dramatic power. Well maybe it isn't a 'true' western but it's definitely a memorable one. Among the best and most powerful westerns ever made it remains an unforgettable and unflinching account on the tyranny of mob rule. Henry Fonda is great as Gil Martin, a drifter who happens to hang around for a lynching but also bares witness to the inhumanity and stubbornness of a lynch mob who hang three innocent suspects. Fonda was in peak form when he made this small little known western, just three years after 'The Grapes Of Wrath', one wonders why he bothered to make this small western that tries to make a difference, maybe he agreed with the moral and waned to make a statement. Dana Andrews and a young Anthony Quinn are the unlucky suspects. An unforgettable western that was directed with cold realism by William A. Wellman which separates it from the usual 'cowboys and indians' fare. Intense, powerful and fast paced. Also short (only 75 min.) but that's enough to make a chilling and unforgettable movie. From a scale of 1-10 I give this film a 9!
Rating:
Summary: The dangers of vigilantism
Review: Henry Fonda and Harry Morgan make a swell pair of drifters! They stumble into a town recently ravaged by rustlers and are forced to join an unruly, lynching mob. The film's visual imagery is both poetic and startling. This movie is all about shadows and the reactions on people's faces; watch Anthony Quinn, that cat is cool as a cucumber! Director William Wellman races the viewer through a fast-paced morality play, and we are left to judge the characters' behavior for ourselves. What will happen in the end? Ooh, if this film was a book (which it once was), it'd be a real page-turner!
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